Aaron Pico admits he’s a creature of habit. A consistent semblance of order is everything to him.

He rises each morning at 5 in his family’s Whittier home. He has his coffee, alone. Just him, his thoughts and his organic black-bean brownie, cold out of the fridge, with a layer of peanut butter on top.

“The way that it’s cold and I sip my coffee with it, it’s the perfect blend,” the 21-year-old says before cracking a grin. “I’m very strange.”

“And it’s seriously every day, he has to have it,” says girlfriend and de facto chef Kylie Chacon. “He’s very routine.”

Chacon enters the kitchen once the coffee is made. Most days, they’re out the door by 6 a.m.

With Pico’s resume featuring world titles in wrestling and national titles in pankration and junior Golden Gloves boxing – not to mention going 42-0 with 22 pins as a St. John Bosco freshman and winning the 132-pound state championship – the assumption is the Bellator MMA featherweight prospect is off to work out.

That comes later in the day as Pico (2-1) prepares for Saturday’s main-card showdown with Lee Morrison (19-8) at Bellator 199 at SAP Center in San Jose.

His training is best defined by a map of Southern California’s freeways. By mid-morning, he’ll go to Bodyshop MMA in Lakewood to train with Antonio McKee. In the afternoon, it’s off to Wild Card Gym in Hollywood to train under the tutelage of renowned boxing trainer Freddie Roach. Or maybe he’ll head over to Yorba Linda to Sam Calavitta’s Treigning Lab garage for some strength and conditioning.

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But before the sun begins to break every day, Pico’s destination is a little slice of serenity tucked between the 605 and 60 freeways.

Instead of sweating on the mats, fine-tuning his striking or enhancing his cardio, Pico and Chacon herd their young Australian Cattle Dogs – Lola and Champ – into his Ford F-150 to satisfy his soul.

Whittier Narrows Equestrian Center is 10 minutes away and home to Pico’s passion outside of fighting: an 1,100-pound chestnut-colored beauty named Canelo.

“Loves horses. Ever since he was a little guy,” said John Pico, Aaron’s grandfather. “My father, his great-grandfather, always had horses. Gosh, by the time he could sit up, he wanted to be put on top of the horse.”

As a teen, “Cheeks” – Pico’s childhood nickname that has stuck among his family and friends – worked at The Equestrian Center at Bonelli Park in San Dimas for nothing more than the ability to ride the horses.

“All he would do is help. It was hard for him to throw up a saddle on the things,” Anthony Pico said of his son. “He’d work in the tack room. He’d clean the corrals. He’d walk people with how they should hold the reins. Did that for a few years. ‘One day I’m gonna have my horse.’ It’s never wavered from that.”

Two years ago, Pico had to relinquish helping at the stables to recover from knee surgery and prepare for his first MMA fight. After he lost his Bellator debut – a much-ballyhooed first-round submission loss on pay-per-view in June at Madison Square Garden – owning a horse steered toward an obsession.

“My life wasn’t in balance. You have to have balance in life, especially in this sport where guys are literally trying to kill you. You gotta have something to just relax. I didn’t feel the same, I was always thinking about horses.”

Madison Square Garden – which is how Pico refers to the loss – proved to be the impetus.

Said Chacon, his girlfriend of eight years: “After that, I remember saying, ‘Just buy a freaking horse. Because if you don’t, we’re both gonna go crazy. Just buy the horse.’”

When Pico first heard about the then-6-year-old Andalusian, he had a feeling he’d own it. When he first saw it in a barn in Perris, without knowing if it was for sale, he proclaimed he was going to buy it. And when he heard it was named after Canelo Alvarez, his favorite boxer?

Since he was a young child, Pico had his passions. Motorcycle racing was first, as he followed his father Anthony and brother Patrick to the tracks.

That gave way to wrestling and boxing. “He just followed his heart,” Anthony Pico said.

But being a cowboy was everything. Anthony Pico remembers his son putting on cowboy boots when he had to go to the dentist.

“Wore his cowboy boots so he wouldn’t cry. He always had this whole thing about being a cowboy,” his father said. “It was related to being tough, related to having a horse. It was always in him to be a cowboy.”

Horses, however, captivated his spirit. How these majestic beasts, meant to be free and in the wild, could be trained and listen to a simple voice command or react to a slight pull of the reins. How willing they were, centuries ago, to ride with their owners and soldiers into war.

Pico loves dogs and especially his Blue Heelers – Lola loves to run and nip at Canelo as Pico rides him – but to him, the horse is man’s best friend.

And in a way, Canelo has become like family.

“The turning point for him is when he did get Canelo. It took him to a different level of maturity,” Anthony Pico said.

Pico buys Canelo the finest hay and supplements. He and Chacon personally groom and bathe him.

“I felt so comfortable. I trusted him. There was a point in time when it clicked,” Pico said. “Nothing he does scares me. And I want to be able to get on him and not be scared. If he gets crazy, I know I can calm him down. That was the best thing for me. Knowing I could just get on my horse and not care what he does because I know everything he’s gonna do.”

Pico not only embraces the horsemanship, he does so as a seventh-generation Californio as a direct descendant of Pío de Jesus Pico, the last Mexican governor of California under the Providence of Mexico.

He arrives at the stables decked out too. The boots, the Spanish spurs, the Portuguese half-chaps, the hat custom made by Rodney Allison of North Valley Hat Company in Salem, Ore. His great-grandfather was a horseman himself, often riding around and camping in the hills of Whittier, Riverside and Valencia.

He’s not dressed as a vaquero. He is a vaquero, his grandfather says.

“That’s his therapy. That’s his calm time. That’s his down time. It’s good for him. Good, clean activity,” John Pico said. “He’s not a partier, not a drinker, not a smoker. The only vice he has is spending time with his horse.”

Saturday’s fight in San Jose will mark the first time Pico and Chacon will be away from Canelo. When asked how he will cope with the absence, there is no dread or dismay. Pico is confident Canelo is being left in good hands. And he will be fully focused on building off his back-to-back first-round knockout victories.

While every morning starts the same with coffee and a cold black-bean brownie at 5 a.m., some evenings have more meaning than others.

“We’ll come here sometimes, 7 at night, sit in the car, roll down the windows and just listen,” Pico said. “I love it. I can’t say enough, just being around horses.”

For his father, the pride he felt in seeing his son accomplish his goals in fighting grows even more when he sees him with his horse.

“He’s coached him up and Canelo’s coached him too. That’s what I’m most proud of. He built that,” Anthony Pico said. “I am so proud that this kid, everything he has, from horse to tack to hat to boots to spurs, he bought it all with his money. He found out his dream and he did it on his own.

“The horse has a lot to do with it. It’s the next phase in him growing as a man.”

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